


Accidents Happen

by GingerBurst



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Gen, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo 2017, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24344731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerBurst/pseuds/GingerBurst
Summary: Every kid that runs around barefoot is bound to get something stuck in it. Talo just happened to be today's victim, but he is putting on a pretty brave face.
Relationships: Link & Rusl (Legend of Zelda), Link & Talo (Legend of Zelda), Talo & Rusl (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	Accidents Happen

Prompt: "Foot"  
Warning: There is no specific tag or body horror in this work, but there is "foreign object stuck in flesh" kind of content. Thought I'd put that out there.

A sigh huffed passed the elder man’s lips, dislodging the brown hairs of his thick mustache. Perhaps he really should trim that back again, it had been awhile, but it would have to wait until after he took care of this current predicament. Rolling his right shoulder to ease some of its ache, he spoke up. “Tell me again how this happened?”

In front of him, sitting on his front porch with his left foot hovering above the ground, was Talo. His shaggy brown hair hung around his dirt smudged face, the faded red cloth that would usually hold it back clenched in his hand at his side. Dried tear trails streaked down a portion of his cheeks, and his clenched jaw and furrowed brows both held them back and gave him a distraction from the pain throbbing in his heel.

“I was in the barn helpin’ out, and I stepped on something,” he choked.  
“Where were your sandals? You should always be wearing them around the barn and tool sheds.”  
“Outside. The one strap broke.”

Sighing again, Rusl turned to his former student crouched next to Talo’s injured foot. The blonde gave him a small nod. For a moment the blacksmith was caught by the sharp weight in his blue eyes, but told himself to brush it off and returned his attention to the youngest of the group.

“You shouldn’t have been messin’ without shoes on. But the damage is done, and the faster we get it out the faster it’ll heal.”

Kneeling down in front of him, he gingerly lifted Talo’s leg up so he could examine it in the sunlight. Jutting out from his skin was the flat head of a nail used to secure the fabric underneath the shingles. Rusl sucked a hiss through his teeth. No wonder Link had carried him instead of letting him walk. When Talo whimpered his displeasure, he lowered his leg a bit so it wasn’t so high. The nail appeared smooth, no rust coating the head. It was perhaps a new one from two months ago, or was an unused one that was in storage. It was at least a silver lining in the whole thing. He did not see blood, the nail putting a stopper on any flow for now. The skin surrounding the entry however was bright red, irritated, itchy looking in a perfect ring from the nail outward. He guessed it to be maybe the width of a baby’s finger around. Rusl scrunched his nose in sympathy, lowering the boy’s foot back to his hovering.

“Link, you’ll need to grab something more durable than tweezers. Perhaps one of the horseshoe pliers. And get some whiskey from Sera and Haunch’s stock to disinfect it.” He got another nod, standing and running off to get them. “Now Talo, I’m going to need you to focus on me. Don’t think about your foot, just think about anything else. It’s going to hurt, but we’ll have it taken care of quickly. Understand?”

Talo quickly shook his head yes, clenching his eyes shut. “It hurts.”  
“I know. Once Link gets back we’ll yank it right out.”  
“Rusl.” The aging man nearly jumped at the voice behind him, turning to find Link with both the requested items and bandaging cloth in his hands. “Sera gave me some extra wrapping from her cabinet.”  
“I don’t remember you being so quick,” he chuckled. The hero tossed him an amused smirk, handing him the whiskey. “Talo, take a swig of this and then we’ll get started.”

Taking the amber filled glass bottle, uncorked, he gagged at the thick scent of alcohol from it. He tossed it back, swallowing a large mouthful, then thrust it back to his elders. Rusl lifted his foot again, and Talo didn’t bother looking at the large pliers Link had taken up to grasp the nail. Twitching, he attempted not to fight back.

“Okay Talo, listen to me. Don’t think about the nail, just listen. We’re gonna get you all patched up, and we’ll take you home.” He observed Link carefully biting the plier claws securely on the small nail head. “Yer mom will fix you up some dinner, maybe some of peppers you like, and you can take the day off of work tomorrow. I’m sure Link and Fado can handle it on their own just fi-“

Before he could give Link the go ahead to pull, Talo had yanked his foot back, crying out. Swiftly grabbing the now bleeding heel, Link secured it under his arm before snatching up the whiskey from the ground. The blacksmith watched him pour it on him, cleaning the wound with a rough gentleness and wrapping it. Talo had tensed up behind him, but his previous pained expression had been replaced with relief. Smiling, Link tapped his leg.

“Y’did fine, Talo. You’re good now.”  
“Heh, that’s my line,” Rusl huffed, grinning. “Took my job too. Go ahead and take him home, and explain to Jeggle what happened.”  
“Do we have to?” the kid groaned. “I’ll get such a tongue lashing.”  
“Yep. No escape for you.”

Rusl stood up to help him up, helping him onto Link’s back one more time – clearly getting too big for even the ranch hand to carry as easily as he used to. Ruffling the kid’s hair, he saw them off with a wave.  
“Stay out of trouble now, Talo.”  
“I’ll try.” He grinned over his shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> I think that was the prompt. This was based of a childhood event of getting a metal sliver or something in my own foot, and having like 4 older cousins all hold me down to get it out. I panicked, and yanked my foot while someone had a hold of it. Worked, though.
> 
> In 2017 a full NaNo story was impossible to do for me, so I decided to mash it with Inktober / Daily prompts instead so that some friends could participate with some lower stakes. And also to encourage a multitude of writing, rather than getting stuck in the same 50K word work. The format was "daily prompt + minimum word/page count". We didn't get through it, sadly~ But I have some backlog, and with a new AO3 account might as well throw them somewhere.
> 
> Critique welcome and encouraged, even if this is old.


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